Inspired by the Winter Olympics in Sochi, I decided to do a “Throwback Thursday” that involves the World Equestrian Games. I did a couple of special reports for the American Quarter Horse Journal’s online newsletter, America’s Horse Daily, on how Lexington was preparing for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

Tom McCutcheon rode to the Individual Gold for the USA at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. (Photo by Megan Arszman)

For residents of Lexington, Kentucky, it’s been a long time coming. Drive around town, and you’ll see countdown clocks and billboards all touting that “The World is Coming!” Now it’s down to a matter of a little more than 400 days until the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games hit the Bluegrass State.

For months, entering the Kentucky Horse Park has been a matter of battling construction traffic, cones and hard hats. Mixed with sounds of horses nickering and spectators cheering are truck beeps, cement mixers and jackhammers. While that’s still the norm in some parts of the park, that has dulled a bit, and the roar of approving applause has opened the gem of the Bluegrass: the $45 million indoor facility, the complementary centerpiece to the park’s new outdoor stadium which opened this spring with the Rolex Three Day Event in April.

The building still has that “new arena smell” to it. There’s fresh green paint on the walls, barely trodden dirt and new plastic stadium seats waiting to host fans….

Read the rest on America’s Horse Daily.